In Search Of Unknown Gods…

I always admired how the Judges Guild people used the material in Gods, Demigiods, and Heroes – the 4th OD&D supplement – in their supplements. In the CSIO, for example, some of the gods listed are formally worshiped in the city’s temples and other happen to be hiding out, incognito, in the city itself, mixing it up with the rest the colorful denizens on the streets and shops of that fantasy metropolis.

I readily admit, when I was a kid playing D&D, we had no idea how to use any of the ideas in the fourth booklet. For us, it was totally useless. I admired the work that went into it, but that’s as far as it went. Our characters never got to the point at which they might have the necessary strength, and enchanted equipment, to take on any of those deities in actual combat, and the idea of introducing them into the game, to interact with more lowly players, never occurred to us.

Ἄγνωστος Θεός

When it comes to introducing deities into a campaign, The Judges Guild’s Unknown Gods supplement has gotten surprisingly positive reviews from the OSR crowd. I have been going through this book myself, reading about, the different gods offered and have been impressed myself. Each god gets an illustration, a little stat block, a symbol, and some description – as well as a fairly distinctive random “mood” or disposition generator. This latter feature was what I found most impressive. Say the characters encounter one of these gods – what kind of mood is it in and how does it react to them? The DM could develop a “back story” on just why the god was feeling just that way – which could lead into a game hook or an adventure. Note: just because the players might share the deities alignment is no guarantee that they are going to get help.

Some have objected to the ways that gods are treated in D&D, period. They don’t like the idea of the deities being super-charged player characters or, alternatively, just really powerful monsters for the players to fight. I get that. I also see how including the gods became necessary when “Monty Haul” DMs gave away so much treasure and experience point that gods were the only thing powerful enough to throw at their players. Yet, at the same time, it is undeniable that many mythologies have featured certain gods that have shown a marked propensity for interactions with human beings – even for very intimate encounters with them. I want my campaign to naturally include these kinds of mysterious “visitations.”

The nature of the “unknown gods” – what makes them “unknown” in the first place – has to be looked at. Players are usually familiar with the names, attributes, and personalities of deities that belong to conventional and established mythologies. Encountering these figures leaves less room for surprise, or shock and awe, for that natter. Importing gods and pantheons from well known fantasy literature is no different. But this Judges Guild collection features truly “unknown gods” that – in all likelihood – the players have never heard about and know nothing about. Each encounter with them is going to be fresh and different.

OSR types don’t need to be told to see these descriptions as merely suggestive. If you like one of the gods the book provides, use it. If you don’t – skip it or change it. There is quite a bit of variety here – not just through the alignments (they are using the 1E system), but also through shapes, styles, and characteristics. The book covers 83 different gods in total. Some seem traditional, some seem more “gonzo.” A number were, for me, reminiscent of ’70s-era “cosmic” Marvel Comics – gods that writer and artist Jim Starlin might have conceived. Other gods appear to have stepped out of some forgotten, surreal animated TV special – perhaps a adaptation of an obscure, didactic, and counter culturally infused hippie children’s book. I would never want to exclude either aspect from my campaign – there’s a place for Thanos and a place for the figures from The Phantom Tollbooth.

Quotations…

“In the sharing of fun and hobbies, the true meaning of friendship most often manifests itself”

– David A. Hargrave

"Take my word for it, there is no such thing as an ancient village, especially if it has seen better days, unillustrated by its legends of terror. You might as well expect to find a decayed cheese without mites, or an old house without rats, as an antique and dilapidated town without an authentic population of goblins."

- Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

"And if you've got no other choice
You know you can follow my voice
Through the dark turns and noise
Of this wicked little town"

- John Cameron Mitchell

“We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

- C.S. Lewis

"Games were all that made things serious or gave them form. To be a serious person, it was necessary to embrace one."

- Robert Stone

"Maturity consists in having rediscovered the seriousness one had as a child at play."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves.”

- Carl Jung

"Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth."

- Jean-Paul Sartre

"Wilderlands taught me how to make and run a good sandbox setting. Arduin taught me how to not limit my imagination."

- Illés Tamás

“Even if you have no intention to ‘do magic’ when you play D&D, you are immersing yourself in an alien, magic worldview which can gradually change the way you think about life and spiritual matters.”

- Bill Schnoebelen

"Not far away were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people."